Speculative Fiction—an all-encompassing genre created to describe stories of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and other stories that have an element of “What if...” in them. A story in speculative fiction is one that adds an element of the unreal, or asks, what would become of our society if history took a different direction at some important event? Fiction with a little something extra thrown in.—William D. Richards

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Saturday, June 3, 2017

Shadows of Our Fathers (Primal Patterns, Book 3) by Rex Jameson

Release date: May 24, 2017

Subgenre: Post-apocalyptic, space opera

About Shadows of Our Fathers:

Imagine a war between angels and demons that extends across our
universe. Now, think bigger. Imagine that the fight between Lucifer and
Jehovah extends across not only our universe but also involves two more
ancient universes filled with demons and the remnants of the proud elven
race.

Angels and demons fall as the Great War between Order and
Chaos comes to a close. For those who thought Jehovah's days of smiting
stopped in the Old Testament, it's time to give the devil his due.

In
the face of democratic and social reforms, the Chaos Universe struggles
with its past while pursuing the future that King Lucifer promises.
While the demons thrive, the creator of the Elven universe looks to his
own past for the salvation of his favorite immortals. Jehovah's wife
Gaea and son Isaac seek asylum in Chaos as Lucifer and Jehovah have
their final, apocalyptic battle.

"Shadows of Our Fathers" is the last book of the Lucifer's Fall trilogy, and book three in the Primal Patterns series.

Excerpt:

The demon Usmi Agalal, clothed in a black and silver robe, plopped
down on his great grandmother Tiamat’s divan and grinned impishly
at her. He unpinned his dyed, dark-black hair, letting it fall
down—an invitation for her to get her brush. He knew she felt
better when she kept her hands busy—especially when her mind was
scheming.

“Hello, my pet,” she purred.

“Grandma,” he said, bowing his head.

Her bedroom gave him the creeps. Not just because it was pitch
black, even under lights, but also because of what the furniture
meant to her. His own room was furnished in the most opulent of
silks, intricately-woven wools, and woods. Hers was made of
zinanbar, and not just any zinanbar. Her room was furnished with
the souls of her most intimate, vanquished enemies. The whole thing
reminded him of mementos kept by a serial killer.

Everywhere outside of this room, she had taught Usmi to hide his
evidence. Throughout his life, loose ends were treated as fatal
mistakes. There were plots Usmi had been forced to participate in
that had literally removed whole families from existence, simply to
hide a whispered conversation.

But not here. This was a kind of trophy room, but a most peculiar
one—likely the most unique trophy room in the multiverse. She did
not gloat here. This was not a place with plaques and dedications.
She had never once explained whose wasted souls now occupied her
sleeping space. These were her greatest, most silent conquests. No
one but Usmi or her past protégés had known about the contents of
this room. She gave no personal tours here. She took no lovers
here. Whatever lesson was meant to be learned in this room must
have been reserved for those foes formidable enough, or secret
enough, to earn a place here.

“Judging from that smile on your face,” she said, picking up her
ornate pearl and gold brush, “you have news for me.”

Her long salt and pepper hair brushed against Usmi’s face.

“Three major papers are going to run the stories we gave them,” he
said.

Tiamat grinned from above him with perfect white teeth shining
through her youthful but leathery face. Even an immortal can age
after a few billion years. All it takes is prolonged exposure to
the harshest of cosmic events, and she had experienced them all.

“Lucifer was a fool to let the people form a free press,” she said,
contempt dripping from her mouth like poison.

She attacked the knots in Usmi’s hair with a precision and lack of
empathy that was her trademark. Thankfully, his scalp had long ago
grown accustomed to these kinds of assaults.

“One is running a story about Ostat’s love children with Gishtil
being housed in the palace. Another is claiming that they are
actually Lucifer’s children. A third is running a story which
essentially says that Gishtil and her children are just the tip of
the iceberg. The lesser demon who is running the Alurabum Herald is
essentially printing whatever conspiracy theory he can dream up.
This latest one has elves and demons and even humans from Order
involved in trysts that have produced deformed offspring.”

Tiamat chuckled as she pulled on a knot. “And Lucifer will not
return for weeks…”

“When he does, he’ll have an absolute shit storm to clean up.
Kishargal has taken our suggestion of a Samu and gone nuts with it!
She’s convinced that her mother would want her to start bigger
riots than Mina ever did.”

“And you hid the viewers?” Tiamat asked professionally.

“Naturally,” Usmi said. “I’ve even subbed false viewers into the
Chaos University Library. My spies inside the university have
assured me that Sariel took them and watched them before he left
for Arnessa. He believes Kisha’s mother was just as bloodthirsty
for lesser demon deaths as Kisha is trying to be.”

“And while Lucifer tries to quench flames at home and with the
mining guilds from the riots, we’ll make our own moves against
Kishargal.”

Usmi laughed as she continued to brush his knotless hair, just to
keep her wrinkled, spotted hands busy.

“Kisha was never meant to rule this clan,” Tiamat said, “and
Lucifer was never meant to rule this land. It will be you, my pet.”

He patted one of her hands. “I’m doing my best, Grandma. I’ll let
the press stories fester a while.”

“Exploit your advantages,” she said, repeating a mantra he had
heard since birth. “Trust your instincts.”

“Always.”

“And when Kisha is dismissed for incompetence and negligence of
duty as Grand Commander,” she said, “we’ll make a move for you to
usurp it.”

About the Primal Patterns series:

About Rex Jameson:

Rex Jameson is the author of three novels ("Lucifer’s Odyssey",
"The Goblin Rebellion", and "Shadows of Our Fathers") in the Primal
Patterns series and half a dozen short stories. An avid history buff and
an unabashed nerd with an appetite for science fiction and fantasy, he
loves to create complex speculative fiction with layered characters. He
earned a PhD in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University and researches
distributed artificial intelligence in robotics at Carnegie Mellon
University. Rex and his wife Jenny live in Pittsburgh where they enjoy
hosting family and friends.

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